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Al-Ghurair Group, an Emirati sugar producer, is creating a project in Egypt for the production of high quality sugar from beets.

The project's production capacity stands at 400.000 tons and will represent an investment worth nearly US$500 million in the Egyptian economy.

"Along with the industrial undertaking, the Emirati company has also decided to implement an agricultural project on 200.000 feddans for a sugar beet plantation. [The project will be created] to meet the factory's needs for beets and to cultivate other crops like wheat and corn to bridge the food gap and expand farmlands," Industry and Foreign Trade Minister Hatem Saleh said in a statement on Tuesday.

The minister added that the Emirati project would be one of Egypt's major Industrial and agricultural projects, saying that Egypt was one of the largest importers of sugar in the world and that the project would help move it away from reliance on imports. He said it seeks les reliance on importing, explaining that Egypt remains one of the world's biggest sugar importers.

The plant will be allocated 100 feddans at the Abu Khalifa industrial zone in Ismailia, as agreed with its governor, and will secure 30,000 jobs.

Jamal al-Ghurair, who chairs the Emirati group, said his company has a serious desire to invest in the Egyptian market, which he described as promising and versatile.

Ghurair also said that the project had been studied by experts from Germany and Australia, who reportedly said that Egypt's fertile farmland and water availability would benefit the project.